Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Mets - Signed Bengie

New York Mets - Signed C Bengie Molina to a 2-year contract.

Unfortunately for the Mets, there aren’t a lot of great options out there for a team wanting a solid catcher for a few years. Statheads love Josh Thole, but his defense needs work and he has absolutely no power and he is pretty much the only slightly palatable option for the Mets. Bengie Molina is unlikely to be very good, but when your team plays Omir Santos on purpose, he represents a decent stopgap. Don’t expect too much from Molina - he’s still a 35-year-old catcher in lousy shape coming off an 86 OPS+.

No dollar figures released, but it’s presumably not a figure large enough that it will prevent the Mets from doing what they absolutely have to - grabbing the last bits of good pitching on the market as if their lives depended on it (because they do).

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I'm taking a ############# emergency flight to Buffalo for a ############# FUNERAL, and this is what is going to see me off? I hope all you ########### ####### who find this signing to not be a problem burn in ####### hell.

Poor Lassus. I guess I'm ON THE LIST. I think it's OK, too. If Thole is going to have any chance at a career, step one is to have 2010 be a year in which he works on his defense and proves he can be a major league quality catcher. So the Mets needed to have a reasonable option at the major league level, and there just weren't many available. Molina will be acceptable, and IF Thole does make progress, 2011 can be the year he serves as Molina's apprentice, learns the league and the Mets' staff while getting enough major league experience to take over the job in 2012. And if Thole doesn't show himself to be a real prospect, the Mets won't have wasted 2010 hoping for something that isn't going to happen.

And Omar showed resolve in not giving in to Molina's demand for a three-year deal. This standoff went on a long time, and it was Molina who blinked.

i'd like to see the career projection, for 1. he signed for 3 years, while the guy he's replacing got 1, mark derosa got 2, and adrian beltre is still on the market. derosa got a TO, feliz got a TO, and i don't think it's at all unreasonable to request that polanco get one as well.

as for what i'll be looking for, i'm wondering about how it'll see his plate discipline progressing since he started his career barely ever taking a walk, saw a boost during his first tenure in philly, and has been mediocre at the skill over the last 3 seasons while also seeing his batting average drop from .341 to .307 to .285.

actually, looking into all this kinda makes me want to crawl in a hole. the only way he'll be worth his contract is if he hits .300 each year, but if he doesn't get that, his OBP will be in the .340 range at best, while his isoP has never been better than .158. considering the consistency of his isoD, if his BA drops to .275, his best possible outcome looks to be a .275/.330/.430 type line. and if he does that, or worse, the next two years, that third is gonna be ugly. then there's the buyout.

Molina's been about a 2 WAR player the last couple of years. That has value, even if he's slow.

I don't think WAR takes baserunning into account and WAR doesn't measure catcher defense. Earlier in his career, Molina's defense probably was enough to compensate for anything he gave up on the basepaths but I don't know if that's true anymore.

I'm pretty much with Lassus on this point even though rationally it's not that ridiculous a move. But I can't say I am going to enjoy wathcing him play baseball.

Molina's been about a 2 WAR player the last couple of years. That has value, even if he's slow.

Like Russlan said, WAR doesn't include defense or baserunning. BPro has him at -4.5 runs on the basepaths in 2009 (-7.1 in 2008). The following article (http://www.drivelinemechanics.com/2009/10/13/1082419/2009-catcher-defense-filling-in) has him at -3.4 runs on defense in 2009. Subtract that from his +18 RAR and you have a 1 WAR player in 2009.

It's a pretty bad idea to bring in a mid-30s catcher on a multi-year deal coming off of consecutive 1 WAR seasons. I really hope they hold the line at 1 year or walk away. Either way I'd walk away.

Not a bad day at all for Mets fans. Killer day for Sox Nation with Bay finally gone. Molina's 20 or so home runs and Bay's presence in the middle of the lineup may be enough to swing the division New York's way. Slightly.

Like Russlan said, WAR doesn't include defense or baserunning. BPro has him at -4.5 runs on the basepaths in 2009 (-7.1 in 2008). The following article (http://www.drivelinemechanics.com/2009/10/13/1082419/2009-catcher-defense-filling-in) has him at -3.4 runs on defense in 2009. Subtract that from his +18 RAR and you have a 1 WAR player in 2009.

It's a pretty bad idea to bring in a mid-30s catcher on a multi-year deal coming off of consecutive 1 WAR seasons. I really hope they hold the line at 1 year or walk away. Either way I'd walk away.

All of this, and less. Dock Molina the standard half a win for age-related decline and you have a ballplayer who projects to be worth half a win in 2010, and replacement level in 2011. $10-12 million for half a win?

I know you need to keep the baseball from rolling to the backstop but this is a very, very poor signing.

I think his name is "Bibby". It's a reference to an early ad, where he was drinking a beer stein full of nails and screws without being punctured, accompanied by the phrase "Nunc est bibendum" ("Now it is time to drink").

Congratulations Mets fans! Also, I thought Posey was supposed to be ready. Why would SF block him like this? I guess it's only one year and Posey is only 23 but it certainly would be more fun to follow him than Molina.

I am rooting for mayhem this year. It's seriously in the best interests of the team that they stink this year and Sabean gets canned. Considering all of the good pieces on the team are young there's no reason why they can't be good in 2011 under a GM who is not a ####### moron.

I credit my earlier geeky reference to steampunk as responsible for this victory. They were scared of my clanking machinery.

I barely even care now who plays catcher, now, really. Sad, but true. It's likely to be someone worse, even, but I feel satisfied that this small moral victory of even one fewer GIDP has been achieved.

What was the average OPS for catchers all across baseball last year? Not really that I think Santos was better than that, I just want to see the figure and I don't quite have the BBRef skills to do it.

IOW all else being equal a catcher hitting an 80 doesn't hurt you nearly as much as a 1B hitting 95 (The AVERAGE 1B in 2009 was at 120) A catcher hitting 70 doesn't hurt you anymore than a 1B hitting 95 does.

Which is why the Mets' [apparent] obsession with getting Molina rather than someone like LaRoche made no sense

I agree about Molina vs. LaRoche. I also agree that Santos isn't good.

Ultimately, it just was a mission of principle for me, I just didn't want to see an old lumbering catcher, and one that we were looking to pay for two damn years. Watch Molina put up an .828 this year, just to spite me.

Is Delgado going to be a Met? Because if he isn't, I am pretty upset the Mets weren't ever linked with LaRoche.

I think Minaya wants Delgado, and was going to wait for the scouting reports on him before looking elsewhere, well he's playing now, but from what I've read what little mobility around the bag he had before is gone...
so what is Minaya to do?
I assume plan A is/was Delgado
Plan B is/was ????
Plan C is platoon Murphy/Carter and pray Ike develops real fast